Law - Children's Rights & Family Law - LLM

Course Outline
On the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law), you will be exposed to the law and theory on child and family law in Ireland and internationally. At the same time you will get a rare insight into various aspects of the law in action by engaging with social workers, legal professionals and others.

You will work with scholars who have a track record of outstanding scholarship on legal issues relating to children and the family.

You will have the opportunity to become involved in UCC's innovative Child Law Clinic where you can provide research assistance to lawyers on real cases, helping to make a contribution to the quality of advocacy on children's issues, and lobbying for the reform of child law and children's rights.

Applicants for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree also have the option of registering for a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Children's Rights and Family Law). Students take 60 credits of taught masters' modules from those on offer for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law). The Postgraduate Diploma can be completed over 9 months full-time or 18 months part-time.

This shorter programme may be attractive to legal professionals and others who may prefer not to make an initial commitment to a full master's programme. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma may further progress their studies by completing a 15,000-word research dissertation and graduating with a Masters in Law (LLM).

Course Practicalities
LLM classes are in seminar format. This participative and interactive format of teaching is suitable for postgraduate level. You will receive advance reading lists and/or materials for each seminar. Seminars take place in two-hour blocks between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. 10 credit modules run for 12 weeks and 5 credit modules run for 6 weeks. Arrangements are made for courtroom observation in the family courts.

Full-time:

Students take 90 credits.

Part-time:

Students take 90 credits over two years. In Year 2, students take LW6569 and any core modules not already taken in Year 1.

Core Modules Students take core modules to the value of 80 credits as follows:

LW6507 Comparative Family Property Law (5 credits)

LW6546 Juvenile Justice (10 credits)

LW6549 International Children's Rights (10 credits)

LW6563 Children's Rights Law in Practice (10 credits)

LW6568 The Family and the Law (10 credits)

LW6569 LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Dissertation (30 credits) and either

LW6614 Family Law Clinic (5 credits)

or LW6615 Child Law Clinic (5 credits)

Note: The other clinic module not chosen here may be taken as an elective.

Elective Modules Student take modules to the value of 10 credits from the list of elective modules set out below. (The Clinic module chosen as a core module may not be chosen again).

LW6592 Mental Capacity Law (5 credits)

LW6614 Family Law Clinic (5 credits)

LW6615 Child Law Clinic (5 credits)

LW6619 Alternative Dispute Resolution: Processes and Practice (5 credits)

LW6634 Refugee and Forced Displacement Law (10 credits)

It may be that not all modules listed above will be offered in any particular session and/or other options may become available.

Note: In certain cases, with the permission of the Programme Director, students may elect to take 5 credits from the list available for the LLM Degree (see here) (other than those listed above) in substitution for 5 credits of the elective modules listed above.

In order to ensure a reasonable distribution of workload, when choosing modules for all programmes, students should take a balance of credits between Semester 1 and Semester 2. Students who wish to deviate from this rule must seek permission from their Programme Director.

Full details may be found in the College Calendar. Please see the Book of Modules for a more detailed description of modules.

Additional Teaching Mode Information
The part-time option will be taught during weekday working hours over 2 years.

Modules

Further details on the modules listed above can be found in our Book of Modules. Any modules listed above are indicative of the current set of modules for this course but are subject to change from year to year.

University Calendar

You can find the full academic content for the current year of any given course in our University Calendar.

To be accepted on this course, you must be approved by the School of Law.

You will also normally have:

(a) A Second Class Honours Grade I in a primary honours Law degree (NFQ, Level 8)

Or

(b) Have such other relevant third level educational qualifications and/or professional experience as, in the opinion of the School of Law, qualifies the candidate under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to undertake the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree.

If you are an overseas candidate, you are welcome to apply and your qualifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis as above. Non-EU applicants should contact the International Education Office by email at internationalpostgrad@ucc.ie for application details.

English Language Requirements
Applicants that are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university-approved English language requirements. Please visit our PG English Language Requirements page for more information.

For applicants with qualifications completed outside of Ireland
Applicants must meet the required entry academic grade, equivalent to Irish requirements. For more information see our Qualification Comparison page.

International/Non-EU Applicants
For full details of the non-EU application procedure visit our how to apply pages for international students.

In UCC, we use the term programme and course interchangeably to describe what a person has registered to study in UCC and its constituent colleges, schools, and departments.

Note that not all courses are open to international/non-EU applicants, please check the fact file above. For more information contact the International Office.

The closing date for non-EU applications is 30 June 2023

How Do I Apply
1. Check Dates: Check the opening and closing dates for the application process in the fact file boxes at the top of the page.

For Irish and EU applicants we operate a rounds system and you can check the rounds closing dates here.
Note that not all our programmes are subject to the rounds system so check the opening and closing dates for your specific programme in the fact file boxes above.

2. Gather Documents: Scanned copies of supporting documents have to be uploaded to the UCC online application portal and include:

Original qualification documents listed on your application including transcripts of results from institutions other than UCC.
Any supplementary items requested for your course if required.

3. Apply Online: Apply online via the UCC online application portal. Note the majority of our courses have a non-refundable €50 application fee.

Any questions? Use our web enquiry form to contact us.

Additional Requirements (All Applicants)
Please note you will be required to provide additional information as part of the online application process for this programme. This will include the following questions:

You may enter the details of professional or voluntary positions held. We strongly encourage you to complete this section with all relevant work experiences that will support your application.

In addition to your previously declared qualifications, please outline any additional academic courses, self-learning and professional training relevant to this programme.

Please describe your motivation and readiness for this programme.

Please enter the names and email addresses of 2 referees.

You will be examined by continuous assessment throughout the year and your dissertation must be submitted in September. To view individual module assessments in the Book of Modules

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time.

Start Date 7 September 2020

Skills and Careers Information
As the only qualification of its kind in Ireland, graduates are uniquely qualified in the areas of child law and family law. As well as allowing legal professionals to specialise in these areas of legal practice, graduates of this degree are well equipped to work anywhere in the children's sector – with government departments and agencies (in education, child protection, youth justice etc.), with non-governmental organisations (both nationally and internationally), or other bodies who work with children. Few statutory or children's organisations have staff with legal expertise in the child and family law area and this is a significant gap in the sector.